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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25072243">Hello Darkness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KraftMacaroni/pseuds/KraftMacaroni'>KraftMacaroni</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:42:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,742</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25072243</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KraftMacaroni/pseuds/KraftMacaroni</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s a siren au but worse because I’m writing it. Bai is Henry’s daughter, a siren as well. He has taken good care of her for many years, but one day, he isn’t paying attention well enough and she gets scooped up in a hunters trap.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Pickup</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The panic floods her lungs like water. It streams into Bai’s gills rapidly, and fear, a sensation she’s never felt, becomes the only one she can feel. Pain rakes its dirty claws along her body as the men wrestle the net off of her, pinning her against the cold metal bottom of the boat. She’s screaming, she’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>howling</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she’s begging for her papa. She’s sobbing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Screeching</span>
  </em>
  <span> for her papa to come save her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he doesn’t come. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They pin her small, clawed hands tightly to her sides, shoving her into a fish cooler big enough for a saltwater bass. It barely, if at all, fits her. She’s grasping, touching, pushing, </span>
  <em>
    <span>clawing</span>
  </em>
  <span> at the walls of the cooler in desperation. The sickening taste of death wells up around her, the smell of days-old fish comes leaching into her mouth as she gags, gasping for fresh air—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They close the lid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Henry rushes up through the water, his eyes burning green with rage. The red along his body goes jet black, and the fins along his tail turn the same bioluminescent, deadly green. He begins to screech furiously. The anger of a siren father  is unmatched by the anger or passion of any other creature in the water or on land, but the anger of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Henry</span>
  </em>
  <span> is far beyond even that</span>
</p><p>
  <span> He launches himself out of the water, attaching  to the side of the boat and letting out a guttural screech. He crawls up the side of the boat with his claws, ripping holes through the metal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holy shit, what the fuck is that?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s the dad- get the goddamn harpoon!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Henry howls, leaping over the side of the ship and reaching out his arm to rip off the face of the man who holds the barbed net remnants in his hands. At least twenty tranquilizer darts hit his sides firmly, finding their marks without a single mistake in their trajectory. They don’t deter him in the slightest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A wet </span>
  <em>
    <span>thunk</span>
  </em>
  <span> rises over the sound of the screaming men.</span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>A harpoon blade rips across his face, bouncing off his skull. He falls back into the water. He blacks out before he even hears the splash. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>From inside the cooler, Bai’s heart leaps into her throat when she hears her father’s call. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Papa is here. He’s gonna rescue me. He’s gonna get me out of here and we can go out where it’s warm and catch clams. I can finally learn how to crack them open. That way whenever I’m hungry, I don’t have to wake him up or hunt for snails. We can play as much as we want, and we won’t ever come back here.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>So Bai sits in the tub, and she waits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she waits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she waits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But her papa never comes. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Her First Human</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bai meets a human.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s days before she gets her next breath of fresh air. A man cracks open the lid of her container, and her eyes burn when the sunlight hits them. A shadow falls across her eyes before she can even begin to comprehend what it is. A man’s wide face clouds her field of view, and he speaks as he glares down at her. Blurry figures waver in the background, but their details are hard to make out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good fuckin’ specimen you’ve got ‘ere,” He says, his voice thick with an accent she can’t place. “She’s sweet-lookin’, too. You’ll fetch a fair price on the market, especially with a tail like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reaches in and grabs her by the face, his fingers digging into her cheeks as he pulls her closer. His breath wafts across her face, stinking of something dry and stale. Bai whimpers, and it seems to excite something in him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Christ, </span>
  <em>
    <span>such </span>
  </em>
  <span>a cute little gal,” he grins mockingly, near triumphant, as if he’s conquered her. “No fight in her either!” The man lets go of her face, and she sinks back into the cooler, trembling as she presses herself against the bottom like some meek prey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lid shuts once more and she hears muffled voices outside as the cooler begins to move. Her first ‘conversation’ with a human is just as horrifying and confusing as she was warned it would be. Even though she couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying, the look on his face alone was enough to keep her up at night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But as she shakes in the darkness of her confinement, she still hopes that her papa is coming for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wouldn’t have left her behind…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right? </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Pee and poo and fart  this chapter sucks</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Market</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>They bring her to a market, and she thinks about the way she’ll die</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Bai sleeps despite herself. She moves in and out of consciousness through most of the next day, rocking in the cooler. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The smell of rancid, drying fish is one of the first smells that floods her nose when she wakes up. She pushes her fingers under the sealed edge of the cooler, forcing it open just slightly</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rows of vendors line the edges of a crowded street. The loud, frightening people sell everything from hand-made clothing to raw fish laid out on ice. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span> Are they going to put me on ice, too?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>They put the cooler down at a booth and three sets of hands reach into it. She’s lifted out and placed in a much larger, glass container filled with water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t believe she ain’t bossin’ us around.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cuz she can’t sing yet, dumbass.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but I’d expect at least </span>
  <em>
    <span>some </span>
  </em>
  <span>fight. It’s no fun when they don’t fight back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A firm metal lid is fastened to the top of the tank, and she swallows down the nervous lump in her throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This is better,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she thinks to herself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I can breathe better here, I can </span>
  </em>
  <span>see </span>
  <em>
    <span>better here. They won’t be able to hurt me.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>They open a small hole in the lid and push in several small, sliced pieces of raw fish. It’s the first food she’s seen in days (the rotting, dying fish in the cooler don’t count, considering a siren’s dietary needs). She forces down her fear. She grabs the pieces and begins to eat, stopping quickly when she sees the men watching her. They look like they’re interested, but she’s not so sure she likes it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nevertheless, she doesn’t have a choice. She shoves the fish into her mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>More.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She swims up to the glass and presses her hands against it, staring at the men hungrily. One of them seems to get the hint. He walks up to the glass with a saddened expression. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, girlie,” he says, putting his hand against the glass to match with her own. “We can’t give you more. They say we gotta slim you down, it’ll make you more appealin’ to the buyers if they can see your ribs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bai searches his face, not understanding. But she recognizes his regretful expression. She narrows her eyes and pulls her hands back, floating back in the tank and crossing her arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t care if you regret what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter, because you’ll all be dead soon. My papa is coming, and he would never let</span>
  </em>
  <span> anyone</span>
  <em>
    <span> hurt me.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The man smiles at her sweetly, stepping back. “I feel kinda bad,” He shrugs. “She’s just a kid.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘S just an animal, Mason, don’t get so attached,” his partner scoffs, rolling his eyes. “That’s why I kept telling you that you ain’t fit for this job.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they continue their conversation, Bai frowns, backing away further. She doesn’t want to be here- here and </span>
  <em>
    <span>away </span>
  </em>
  <span>from her papa. She’s still just his baby girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Where is he?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hmmm I kinda like this one</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. My old friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pine is to blame for the pun in the title</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The men leave her alone for three days and three nights. At least, she thinks. She tries to keep count. She is given meager scraps of their leftover fish, but most of the time, she is left alone to her thoughts. She doesn’t mind that so much, after all,  back home she was with her thoughts a lot. The deep expanse of ocean was a void for her to scream into. And sometimes, the void screamed back. Her ideals and worries were swallowed by the darkness, and there was nothing to mock her or give her prying stares. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On one of the nights, perhaps the second, a memory surfaces. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bai swims through the water, and the warm current streams around her tail like sleek ribbons. She laughs, her eyes closing as she shoots through the ocean.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Slow down, my pearl!” Her papa calls after her. His tail is much larger than hers, and he would easily be able to catch up if he wanted. But she likes the chase.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She shakes him off, swimming ahead. Below, she sees a long, dark ravine. She’s never noticed it before. Her papa always likes her to swim up higher, but now he’s letting her go below the current line. Well, it’s more like he can’t stop her. She swims down, towards the darkness. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It beckons her, like the lighthouses her papa says to never go towards. She is the ship in the storm, and the darkness is the beacon. She swims down to it, greeting it almost fondly. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Hello,” The word comes out before she can hold it back. She speaks to the darkness directly. “I’m Bai… Thank you for protecting us. I know you watch over us at night. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know your name, but I know you are good.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The darkness replies with a smile and silence. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“My pearl!” Henry swims up to her side, cupping her face. “You aren’t supposed to come down here, you know that.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“But papa, the darkness-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Oh, don’t be afraid of the dark. It can’t hurt us.” He smiles and kisses her forehead with the fondness of a father that she might not feel ever again.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>They swim away, and she casts one last saddened look to the ravine. But the ravine is not sad. The darkness does not mind.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>‘It has been alone for such a long time. I can handle just a little bit of time, can’t I? And then, when I get out, I can go back and visit my old friend.’  She thinks to herself, looking up at the dark sky. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The difference about being alone with her thoughts here versus back at home is that, at home, she was never </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> alone. She had her papa. And when she didn’t have her papa, she had the ocean. The darkness. The fish. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now, she is facing loneliness for the first time. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Real</span>
  </em>
  <span> loneliness.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A shoutout to the loml kiwi and my equally as lovely and supportive bf  Pine</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>BYE BAI haha get it because she goes away and he says bye but her name is also Bai<br/>Written by: Prankster Homo<br/>Edited by: PeePee McButtFace fart butt penis poop pee</p></blockquote></div></div>
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